Michael Owen was once a Liverpool icon - and the inspiration behind many of today's generation of the club's fans (and football supporters in general).

But the striker's move to Real Madrid soured his reputation with the Kop a little, while his later move to Manchester United all but killed it...

However, the once Liverpool forward, who won a number of trophies with the Reds but left just one season before they won a prize he never managed during his time at Anfield: the Champions League, has been invited to play in a legends game against Real Madrid. And, ahead of the clash (which takes place on Sunday afternoon), Owen has told the club's official website that he will always consider himself a Liverpool player:

"I've said many times before I still associate myself [with Liverpool], when I look back. If someone asked me to name one team that I played for throughout my career, I see myself as a Liverpool player."

The problem is - many fans don't feel the same way.

Indeed, there was plenty of outrage from Reds supporters on Twitter after the 35-year-old's declaration of allegiance. On Facebook, meanwhile, the response to Owen's comments was even more negative, with hundreds of people expressing their discontent towards the former striker - and hundreds of people going on to individually like those comments!

Here's a round-up of some of the reaction on social media to the ex-Liverpool man's comments. It appears he will never be remembered as he once could have been...

@LFC like he couldn't wait to take it off and go to real Madrid. Owen should not be allowed to play 4 #LFC again in any capacity

Tim Poole

Tim Poole is a sports journalist for HITC with a love of football, tennis and snooker in particular.His career to date has seen him speak to former Manchester United boss David Moyes, interview snooker world champion Mark Selby and be snubbed by Premier League managers and players in more than one language!He is a massive Roger Federer fan and lives by the motto that 'sport is life.' When he's not writing about it, he's playing it, be it football, tennis, basketball, badminton, table tennis, darts, snooker, golf or even water polo. He is better at some than others...